For the marinade

A variety of oils can be used for baking. Sunflower is the one we use most often at Good Food as…

Method

First, make the marinade. Mix the spices and 3 tbsp salt in a bowl, then stir in the oil to make a paste. Use a knife to make a deep hole in each short rib, then rub the spice mix all over and into the hole, working the flavour into the meat. Place on a tray, cover and chill overnight.

The next day, heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan, tip in the onions and fry until you start to get a deep, rich colour – about 20 mins. Don’t be scared of the colour, this will add amazing savoury sweetness to the dish. Pour in the beer and boil to reduce by half, then add the stock, treacle, thyme and oak chips, if using. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Place the marinated short ribs in your largest roasting tin. Pour over the onion and beer braising liquid, then cover tightly with foil. Transfer to the oven and cook the short ribs for 5 hrs or until really tender.

Once the ribs are cooked, remove and put on a plate to rest and cool. Strain the braising liquid into a saucepan. Once settled, use a ladle to remove the top layer of fat, then set over a high heat. Simmer the sauce until it becomes rich and glossy, then whisk in the ketchup, mustard and brown sauce.

To barbecue the ribs, heat your coals until ashen or set a gas barbecue to medium. Cook the ribs until nicely charred and hot all the way through, then baste with the sauce to finish and cook until sticky. To cook them indoors, heat the grill. Set a wire rack over an oven tray and place the ribs on top. Baste well with the sauce and grill, basting with the sauce a few times, until it forms a charred, sticky crust. Set aside to rest before serving with the onion rings and slaw (see Goes well with).

Recipe Tip

The perfect cut

Short ribs have traditionally been an underused cut of beef, but are becoming more fashionable as American barbecue food has really taken off in the UK. Also known as Jacob’s ladder or brisket on the bone, short ribs come as either a single 3-4kg, six-bone piece, or in single- portion individual rib pieces, which is what you need for my recipe. I like them because they have the perfect meat-to-fat ratio. They slow-cook beautifully without drying out, yet the end result isn’t fatty like pork belly.

Recipe Tip

How to make burnt oak chips

At my restaurant, we dry oak wood chips (available from amazon.co.uk) in a frying pan. Then we take the pan outside, set the chips alight with a blowtorch, then quickly extinguish with the pan lid. At home, it’s easier to burn the oak chips on the hob. First open the windows, then heat a frying pan until hot. Tip in the chips, cover and cook over a medium heat, shaking every so often, until smoke starts escaping from the pan. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool a little – it’s best to take the pan outside to stop your kitchen filling with smoke. Lift the lid and let the smoke escape.

Recipe Tip

Get ahead

You can marinate the short ribs two days before, and cook them up to the end of step 2 the day before.

Comments, questions and tips

Deep, complex flavours. The initial rub really pays off. Toasting the cumin seeds gave the finished dish a gentle spicyness without overwhelming the beef flavour. Barbecued the ribs over wood coals, it only took about 6 minutes to warm them through, and about a minute on each face to start to caramelise the final basting sauce. Didn’t use the burnt oak chips, and only had normal paprika, so had no overriding smokiness. Would perhaps use smoked paprika next time, but as it’s not a favourite of mine I might just stick to the unsmoked variety. A really good recipe that’s worth the time spent.

BBQ Wiz

31st Mar, 2018

5.05

This recipe is great, we smoked our ribs instead of using the oven try 110C/225F for 5-6 hours. Came out amazing! For other tips about smokers have a look http://propanesmokerreviews.com

T.whitehead

1st Oct, 2017

5.05

Fantastic recipe. Will cook again!!!! Highly recommend finishing on the BBQ. Rather than a grill.
I cut the salt down to 1 tbsp and was plenty, even for a salt lover.
Also, note it will take some time to reduce the liquid to a thick sauce consistency.

dwatson27

19th Sep, 2017

5.05

Great recipe. I'm a big fan of short ribs now I've found a local butcher who advises me on quantity for 2 people and cooking advice. It's a 2 day job really but worth the effort.

reevey

31st Jul, 2017

5.05

Truly magnificent and we're definitely eating them again. Magnificent barbecue sauce comes from the cooking liquor which had already cooked the ribs beautifully and it was so easy to make as well. Thanks Tom magnificent as always from you

mothertheresa

10th Jun, 2017

5.05

These were a must do again! Followed the recipe to the letter, with exception of reducing the salt content significantly! 3tbs seems a huge amount? I let the ribs go cold before we BBQ'd to finish, I think if they'd been bbqd when just out of oven they might have disintegrated, and they really were fabulous, worth the planning ( not difficult at all, just need to start the day before), also made sure I skimmed the fat off thoroughly before finishing the sauce off. Great recipe.

Hi James,
These are the correct quantities but you can reduce them for a milder flavour.

theguzzler

6th Jan, 2017

Hi, if I was to do this in the slow cooker would I just reduce the amount of liquid, if so by how much please?
Thanks

spindoctor

28th Apr, 2018

I bought my Samuel Adams Boston Lager from ASDA it was on their craft beer shelf.

spindoctor

28th Apr, 2018

If you want to speed up the time it takes to reduce the sauce place the sauce in a wide shallow frying pan then bring to a boil. The larger service area speeds up the evaporation of the liquid (physics 101)

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